Where am I going wrong? (Yeast dough)

3plus1

I'm not useless in the kitchen, I'm really not. But when it comes to baking any sort of delicacy that requires a yeast based dough, it all goes horribly wrong. I'd love to make croissants, pains aux chocolat and butteries/rowies from time to time as a special treat, but I just can't. It all goes horribly wrong and ends up in the bin, which isn't very OS at all.

I don't think it's the yeast quantity that I mess up, but rather the part with the folding the dough and adding layers of fat. Just doesn't seem to work for me..!

Any tips?

(PS I though of going on a diet today, so it's probably a bad idea asking, but hey... :rotfl: )

Gingernutmeg

A good tip is to try and keep the butter as cold as possible. If you get the butter and wrap it in clingfilm, then squish it a bit, then chill it again and when it's really cold give it a good bashing with a rolling pin to get it as thin as you need it. Also, buy really good quality unsalted butter - I find that the times I've used 'cheaper' butter the results aren't nearly as good, it seems to be much saltier and oilier, not nice at all.

A really good book is the Roux brothers one on patisserie, it has really detailled step-by-step instructions. Also, a great book is 'The Village Baker' by Joe Ortiz (I think). It's American and the recipe quantities are HUGE (it's really a book for bakers) but the recipes really work well and I've never had a problem with any of them. There's another book called 'The Village Baker's Wife' which is all cake recipes, and they're very good too